MORE EAT BACON LOSE WEIGHT

The 99 Cent Chef blog has been covering hot dogs in the LA area.  One featured bacon.  

Bacon plus hot dogs?..yummo.  On a diet? ...yep.

One hot dog bun:  100 calories

One low fat or reduced fat hot dog:  45 calories or 90 calories depending on brand

One slice thin Oscar Mayer precooked bacon: 17.5 calories

One teaspoon light mayonnaise: 16. 33 calories

A little mustard:  negligible

A little catsup:  10 calories

A smidge of diced onions:  ?? calories

Total rounding up, using highest numbers=235

Eaten with a half cup V8 (25), 2 tablespoons of dill weed dip (40) and a cup of raw cauliflower florets.

Lunch for right at 300 calories.  Not too shabby. And totally satisfying.

Let me tell you, the hot dog was awesome.  The 99 Cent Chef added sauted peppers and onion.  Next time I have peppers on hand, will give that a go.

You can eat hot dogs.  You can eat bacon.  If...you choose wisely and use lower calorie lower fat versions.

Salads for supper tonight:  salmon salad, green bean salad, fat free cottage cheese, and mango lassi (like a smoothie, made with fat free yogurt and fresh mango).

It's all about balance.

Friendly Foods and A Recipe: Coffee Toffee Crunch Mousse

In the movie "You've Got Mail" Meg Ryan's character loved daisies because they were so friendly.  In my world there exist friendly foods.

With my food revolution and changing my relationship with food I began thinking in terms of 'eat often'  and 'eat once in a while'.  In my world there are no longer any forbidden foods.

As well there are no longer 'good' and 'bad' foods.  There are instead friendly foods.  And while I may not consider a food friendly in the sense of my goal--to lose and maintain that loss--that does not make the food unfriendly.  It might be a wonderful food--but too high calorically to eat often, and therefore reserved for once in awhile.

One of my favorite friendly foods is Fat Free Cool Whip.  It is versatile, fat free and tastes quite good.  One quarter of a tub of FF CW is only 90 calories...ninety fat free calories.  It is one of my favorite friendly foods.

Recently I've been eating what I've named Coffee Toffee Crunch Mousse.  It tastes so good and for only 220 calories can't be beat in my book.

Here's how to make it.

• Into one fourth of a tub of FF CW sprinkle a teaspoon of instant coffee powder.  I rub it between my fingers to make it very fine.  Fold in the coffee powder to mix/combine.  The powder will dissolve in the FF CW.  Now break up 3 Heath Miniatures--I leave them in their wrapper and smash them with my can opener.  Add to the coffee mix and combine.  

That's it.  Eat and enjoy.  You could use just 2 Heath minis and save 43 calories.  It would probably taste just as good.

Other friendly foods I use often:

---sugar free gelatin
---goat cheese
---tea rusks
---fat free cheese singles
---Laughing Cow Light cheese
---fat free cream cheese
---fat free Breakstone Cottage Cheese
---Hostess 100 calorie chocolate cup cake minis
---almond milk or my own fake version
---fat free plain yogurt
---tomato juice
---V8 juice (a great way to get in some veggies and fiber)
---buttery margarine spray (here's a tip to make it seem decadent.  Toast your bread, then add jelly, and over the jelly spray a generous amount of the buttery spray...wow..it looks like it's dripping in butter..tastes good too)
---dill pickles (great on a fat free cheese sandwich)
---Oscar Myer precooked bacon (4 slices are only 70 calories)
---nutritional cheese made into sauce/dressing
---hummus
---salsa
---chickpeas (roasted, as in Honey Curry )
---iced coffee
---brown rice cakes (lots of crunch and chew and very few calories..I like to spread them with a low calorie butter flavored spread, sprinkle with cinnamon and a sugar substitute like Sun Crystals or Splenda, then over-spray with butter flavored spray--it helps the cinnamon stick better...2 cakes with a tablespoon of spread is only 120 calories)

That's all I can think of right now...fresh fruit is always friendly.  And if I could eat popcorn it would be at the top of the list.

Yesterday the Arnolds sandwich thins were on special so I picked up a package...I really like them toasted and for 100 calories and 5 grams of fiber they are a good option too...a friendly option.

What are some of your friendly foods--foods that are not a trigger, that you can indulge in daily/often, that you really enjoy eating and are low in calories?

Fake Milk

A lot of people use fake milk because they can't drink cow's milk and other animal milks--the secretions of their mammary glands-- are not easy to find.

I use the fake stuff--almond milk--because it is low in calories, carbs and fat.

But the fake stuff comes with a price--a high price.  Per gallon I'm spending over $8 for a gallon of the stuff.

Hence, I've decided I'll make my own fake milk and save myself a bundle of money.  After all--almond milk is almonds soaked in water.  The liquid is called milk.  Milk of the almond.  Soy milk is made similarly.  Soy beans are soaked and processed and the resultant liquid as well is called milk.

How will I do this you ask?  Well, it's simple...a first grader could do it.

I'm going to take cows milk...skim milk, or whatever I have on hand...and add....WATER.  Yep.  Water.  Equal parts of water and milk will yield one cup of fake milk.  Using skim that translates into 40 calories, zero fat and 6 grams of carb.  And the cost?  A dollar fifty per gallon.

While in TX recently I only had access to whole cows milk.  That's a whole lotta calories on my cereal in comparison to the almond milk I normally use.  So I thought 'shoot'...I'll water it down.  And guess what?...it tasted great.  As good as the almond milk for sure.

By the way, if you like your fake milk flavored like the vanilla soy and almond milks, easy peasy--add some vanilla.  And if you want it sweetened--the fake milks come sweetened and unsweetened--you can add sweetener too.

Save all around.  Make your own fake milk,  You 'll also eliminate the necessity of having 2 or more kinds of cows milk in your fridge.  You can adjust the amount of water you add to get the ratios you prefer.